10 Surprising Uses for Lavender Oil

Humans are still a part of nature and we still rely on the beauty, bounty, and benefits of the natural world. But, it seems as though we have forgotten that plant life was humanity’s first pharmacy.

Through life and death trial and error, our inquisitive ancestors experimented with the uses for lavender oil, and many other plants. They knew what they needed to survive without medicine or science as we know it today.

Here are a few surprising uses for how lavender oil can bring a greater element of nature to your life.

Some Background on the Uses for Lavender Oil

Knowing where lavender oil come from helps inform how you can use it.

Lavender is a squat, hardy plant. It has a small scrubby base with flowers that are either purple or greyish blue. Like other plants, the good stuff, the oil, is in the flowers.

Lavender oil is produced through distilling.

Fresh cut lavender is literally stuffed into giant metal stills. Then, steam is pumped into the stuffed stills. The steam causes the oil to burst from the lavender and is carried away in the steam which is pumped out through a pipe.

The steam in the pipe is cooled and the steam-oil condenses into water. The oil naturally separates from the water because they don’t mix at a chemical level. Then the oil is carefully siphoned off and sent to a lab for further purification.

From there, there are many uses for lavender oil.

A lot of them center around returning the oil to a vaporized state. Riding on, water droplets in steam, the oil can be “diffused” throughout a room.

This is what those fancy diffusers do: they vaporize water and essential oils and blow it into the room.

From there, you can enjoy many of the benefits. Click here to see which diffusers make the most of the uses of lavender oil.

Lavender Oil Smells Good

It’s a bit simplistic. But, it’s true. Lavender smells nice and is good for you.

One of the greatest benefits of lavender oil is relaxation. Generally, it helps bring a calm state of mind.

Here’s how…

1. In a Massage

Massages already help you relax. Working out all the tension stored in your body can be greatly supplemented by a natural relaxant. A drip or two of oil in a lotion can add another level of stress release to a massage, calming both body and mind.

2. Sleep Aid

Put a diffuser with a high concentration of lavender oil in a diffuser in your room before bedtime and let it run while you sleep. It will help you fall and stay asleep as you relax into the night time abyss.

You can also put a drop of oil on your pillow to get a similar effect. But keep in mind, oil can stain cloth. If you opt for this, use a not-so-nice pillowcase.

3. Setting Atmosphere

Walking into a room that smells good helps make people feel like they belong. It’s also tremendously comforting to have familiar smells in an unfamiliar place.

No matter where you go, you can bring your diffuser along and make a strange place feel (and smell) like home.

Traveling or moving can be stressful, especially for children. By adding an element of calming familiarity, you can make the change a little earlier on your little ones.

4. Anxiety

Studies show that a daily lavender dosage is comparable to .5 mg of lorazepam. Admittedly, this is a minor substitute for a low dosage of medicine.

But, you could take one less or a reduced dosage of an intense and possibly expensive medication. And you’ll be doing it as naturally as well.

Lavender Has Practical Uses

The uses of lavender oil can be used on other practical settings as well.

Here are a few more ways to use it…

5. Great car air freshener

We spend a lot of time in our cars. We don’t always give cars the same attention like we do to our homes.

Cars can stink. Think about it. They are airtight, are only cooled when we are in them and even the slightest smell can get trapped in the upholstery and the ductwork.

Luckily, lavender oil is pretty potent stuff.

You can mix it in with a water bottle with water and detergents and spray it on stinky upholstery.

Say it smells like something died every time you turn on your air conditioner. You can drop a few drops of lavender in the cabin air intake to clear out most odors.

If the area you drive in has other unpleasant environmental odors, you can put a few drops lavender oil on the air intake filter for your car to mask the odor.

6. Air freshener

The second best part of lavender oil, along with other essential oils, is that it’s completely non-toxic.

That means you can use it to freshen the stinky parts of your home without worry.

Freshen up your baby’s diaper pail with a few drops. Or, put a diffuser in your little one’s room to soothe restlessness when they aren’t feeling well.

Break the diffuser out in your kitchen for a no-worries refresher before or after cooking that aromatic meal.

7. Toilet Freshener

Sometimes your home stinks from what everyone does… if you know what I mean.

You can take down stink at its source with a few drops of oil in the toilet. Mixing lavender oil with other essential oils and water can even give you your oil toilet bowl condition for before and after someone uses it.

8. Toilet Roll

Put a few drops on the inside of your cardboard toilet paper roll for a super discrete air fresher. Everytime it gets used a little lavender oil will be dispersed from the roll, helping to keep things fresh.

In Cooking

9. A Floral Flavor

Lavender oil is strong and it rarely appeals to most foodies. But it is a superb complement to other food with strong flavors.

Use it in place of mint or rose or other floral undertones to change things up.

10. Lemon and lavender

The citrus of lemon and the floral of lavender pair well together.

Just like in a mint lemonade or in salmon seasoning with mint, lavender can step in and add a mellow undertone to strong flavors.